Puzzle & Dragons
Puzzle & Dragons (パズル&ドラゴンズ, Pazuru Ando Doragonzu) is a free-to-play mobile game for Android and iOS developed by GungHo Online Entertainment. On December 21, 2022, a collaboration with the anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation was announced. The collaboration started on December 26, 2022 and ended on January 9, 2023.[1] The English-language North American version of the game received the event 3 months later on March 6, 2023.[2]
Summary
Puzzle & Dragons (shortened to P&D or (パズドラ, Pazudora)) was originally released in Japan on February 12, 2012. It is a match-three game with gacha game monster-collecting role-playing and strategy elements. It is the first ever mobile game to gross US$1 billion in revenue.
Gameplay
Players collect monsters (with individual monsters often referred to as "Cards" in English) through various means to create teams to take on Dungeons (ダンジョン, Danjon) to win in-game currencies and more monsters. The puzzle element of the game takes place in the game's Dungeons where players move tiles called Orbs (ドロップ, Doroppu, "Drops" in the Japanese version) on a 6-by-5 tile board within a time limit to make as many matches or Combos (コンボ, Konbo) of three or more orbs of the same color that match with the monsters' elemental Attributes (属性, Zokusei, abbreviated to "Att."): Fire, Water, Wood, Light, and Dark. If there are monsters on the player's team that have those Att., they can inflict damage on the Dungeon's enemy monsters; when 3 or 4 Orbs of the same Att. are matched only one enemy monster is hit with the attack, but if 5 or more are matched all enemies on the field are attacked. There are also Heal Orbs to recover HP and hazards such as Jammers that take up space, Poison and Mortal Poison Orbs that deduct the player's HP when matched, and Bombs that if not matched will explode to clear orbs on the board and deduct HP.
Monster Teams
A monster team comprises a monster designated as the Leader (リーダー, Rīdā), up to four monsters designated as Subs (サブ, Sabu), and a Helper (助っ人, Suketto) that is another player's team Leader. All monsters possess various stats such as Attack (ATK), HP, and Recovery (RCV), which increase when the monster gains experience to increase its level, either by clearing Dungeons or being fused with other monsters such as a certain class exclusively used for increasing experience.
The monster level generally scales from 1 to 99 with some monsters capable of having a Level Limit Break (レベル限界突破, Reberu Genkai Toppa) increasing the level cap to 110 and then a Level Super Limit Break (レベル超限界突破, Reberu Chō Genkai Toppa) that further increases the level cap to 120. When monsters reach their max level they can Evolve (進化, Shinka) to change their stats and abilities, with further Ultimate Evolutions (究極進化, Kyūkyoku Shinka), Reincarnation Evolutions (転生進化, Tensei Shinka), Super Reincarnation Evolutions (超転生進化, Chō Tensei Shinka), Pixel Evolutions (ドット進化, Dotto Shinka), and Assist Evolutions (アシスト進化, Ashisuto Shinka).
All monsters can also be given +Points to further buff the ATK, HP, and RCV stats to their maximum values. Monsters also possess Types (タイプ, Taipu) that are either reflective of their general stat focus (Attacker, Physical, Healer, or Balanced), their design motif (God, Dragon, Devil, or Machine), or their utility as "items" (Evo Material, Awaken Material, Enhance Material, or Redeemable Material).
Skills
All monsters also possess various kinds of Skills (スキル, Sukiru). An Active Skill can be used by the player during a Dungeon with varying effects such as changing the Att. of Orbs on the board, directly inflicting damage to the enemy monster(s), buffing the player's team's stats, or recovering HP or other statuses such as various Binds; certain monsters also have a Skill Evolution (スキル進化, Sukiru Shinka) that changes the Active Skill for the remainder of the Dungeon and other monsters have skills that transform the monster itself for the rest of the dungeon with new stats, Skills, and other features.
A Leader Skill is a set of criteria the monsters in the Leader and Helper slots have that when matched improve the stats of the monsters on the team, such as applying an ATK multiplier if a certain number of the same Att. Orb are matched or a certain number of Combos are made in a single turn, buffing all cards of a specific Type or Att., reducing damage received for the next turn, or applying additional damage at the end of the turn.
Awoken (覚醒, Kakusei) Skills are a combination of passive stat multipliers and Orb-matching criteria that individual monsters on the team have to buff themselves unique from the Leader Skill such as the Two-Pronged Attack (2体攻撃, Nitai Kōgeki) that multiplies ATK and hits two enemy monsters at once when 4 Orbs of the same Att. are matched or the [L] Increased Attack (L字消し攻撃, Eru-ji Keshi Kōgeki) that multiplies ATK and removes the Lock status from Orbs on the board. While identical monsters will possess the same Awoken Skills, Latent (潜在, Senzai) Awoken Skills can be applied to monsters to give them custom additional Awoken Skills and Super Awoken (超覚醒, Chōkakusei) unlocked after the Level Limit Break to have one of a set of additional Awoken Skills that are obtained at random by spending +Points on a monster who has already reached the +Point cap of +297.
Monsters can also be set as Assists (アシスト, Ashisuto) which adds that monster's Active Skill as an additional Active Skill available to the base monster as well as improving stats based on the Assist's stats; monsters that have undergone Assist Evolution are granted the Awoken Assist Awoken Skill that append their Awoken Skills to the base monster when set as an Assist.
Dungeons
Dungeons the player cost Stamina (スタミナ, Sutamina) to run, which recharges 1 point per 3 minutes or it can be completely restored through either microtransactions or in more recent years watching an in-game advertisement. There are 6 types of Dungeons in the game: Normal, Technical, Special, Ranking, Quest, and Story Dungeons.
Normal Dungeons are the first set available to players, and enemy monsters simply attack the player monster with set damage outputs.
Technical Dungeons are unlocked after clearing a certain tier of Normal Dungeons, and feature enemy monsters possessing their own skills to hamper the player as well as having varying damage outputs depending on their own HP.
Special Dungeons are a set of rotating Dungeons that change either daily, hourly, or weekly and feature the Descended (降臨, Kōrin) series featuring one-off rare monsters that can be obtained after clearing the Dungeon.
Ranking Dungeons test players' skills against each other, earning points based on how they cleared the Dungeon such as time elapsed, number of turns taken, and certain special skills used with the top players of the whole server earning a Crown icon next to their in-game name. A subset of Ranking Dungeons are called Fevers and use a mechanic that incorporates a mechanic from Puzzle & Dragons W that gives players a limited amount of time to make as many combos as possible and earn as much points as possible by playing the level as long as possible, with only certain Att. Orbs dealing damage to the enemy monster which changes each run; points and overall player rank are cumulative, with players encouraged to reach the point cap.
Quest Dungeons are a monthly rotating set of Dungeons of increasing difficulty, with clearing individual Dungeons and whole blocks of the Quest Dungeons rewarding players unique items.
Story Dungeons integrate a story with preset teams and enemy battles, with unique Evolution Material monsters awarded to players who clear the whole Story.
There is also a Multiplayer mode featuring a 2-Player Mode for cooperative play of all Special and Technical Dungeons, a 3-Player Mode for cooperative play on a mix of permanent Dungeons and rotating Descended or Event Dungeons, and an 8-Player Mode for PVP in preset dungeons not unlike the Ranking Dungeons.
A subscription model called P&D Pass also exists, giving players special Dungeons for each day of the month for additional in-game items as well as permanent access to all of the Descended Dungeons and daily Evolution Item Dungeons.
Progression
Monsters in the game have various inspirations from generic fantasy monsters such as goblins, ogres, slimes, and dragons to being inspired by various real world mythologies, religions, and historical figures. Monsters are variably obtained through winning them in Dungeons or winning them through the Egg Machines (ガチャ, Gacha) by spending Magic Stones (魔法石, Mahōseki) obtained through either clearing Dungeons, special events, or microtransactions; monsters can also be obtained through the Purchase Monster (モンスター購入, Monsutā Kōnyū) store with a Monster Points currency obtained by selling other monsters or trading in monsters at the Monster Exchange (モンスター交換所, Monsutā Kōkansho).
Players are encouraged to use the Egg Machines during special twice-monthly events called God Fests (ゴッドフェス, Goddo Fesu) where certain monsters that can only be obtained through the Egg Machine are made available, including many monsters only accessible during the event. Certain other themed Egg Machine events also happen throughout the year with some themed to holidays such as Halloween and Christmas or unique themed sets of original characters such as the Dragonbounds & Dragon Callers event which features an original storyline.
Puzzle & Dragons also has special Collaboration (コラボ, Korabo) events which feature characters from various third-party intellectual properties such as other video games, anime, manga, and movies. These special events often feature monsters that when obtained by the player can unlock additional customizations to the game, such as Orbs Skins (きせかえドロップ, Kisekae Doroppu) to change the appearance of the Orbs on the board and BGM Sets (BGMセット, Bījīemu Setto) that allow the player to customize the background music in Dungeons.
Franchise
Puzzle & Dragons has also spawned a franchise of other video games and multimedia since its initial release in 2012:
- Puzzle & Dragons Challenge, a companion app used in early esports ventures featuring time attack challenges with preset teams.
- Puzzle & Dragons Z, a Nintendo 3DS game using P&D mechanics for a puzzle adventure RPG with towns and dungeons that removed microtransaction elements found in the mobile game.
- Puzzle & Dragons Battle Tournament, an arcade game published in cooperation with Square Enix that implemented online player-vs-player gameplay and game saves tied to a subscription card.
- Puzzle & Dragons W, a side-game added to the main P&D app featuring the mascot TAMADRA character and introducing a different gameplay style of having set criteria for each level; removed from the game in July 2020.
- Puzzle & Dragons Z Tamer Battle, an arcade game version of Puzzle & Dragons Z integrated with a collectible card game sold by the arcade cabinets.
- Puzzle & Dragons Trading Card Game, a trading card game featuring characters and elements from the mobile game; now out of print.
- Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, a Nintendo 3DS game featuring gameplay similar to Puzzle & Dragons Z but only featuring characters from Nintendo's Mario franchise. When released outside of Japan both Puzzle & Dragons Z and Super Mario Bros. Edition were bundled together as a single game.
- Puzzle & Dragons Radar, a companion app which incorporated GPS and augmented reality features, allowing players to search for items around them through as well as read QR codes sold on various pieces of collectible merchandise on to transfer items, monsters, and dungeons to the main P&D game as well as integrating its own in-game dungeon and battle system used in esports events; in 2020 it underwent a major update to be rebranded as Puzzle & Dragons Battle and now incorporates a Season Pass system for unique Leader Monsters.
- Puzzle & Dragons X, a Nintendo 3DS game serving as a successor to P&DZ with the same adventure RPG elements, this time split into two versions: Book of God and Book of Dragon. This also spawned an anime television series based on the plot of the game and several pieces of collectible merchandise such as Armor Drops which could be scanned by the 3DS's camera to add the monsters to the player's game; these could also be read by Puzzle & Dragons Radar.
- PazuDora, a follow-up TV anime series this time based on the expanded Puzzle & Dragons Radar esports features; Monster Memories featured in the anime were sold as merchandise and integrated into P&DR as well as Monster Memory Cards that were also integrated into P&DR.
- Puzzle & Dragons Gold, a Nintendo Switch title featuring characters from the PazuDora anime and gameplay mechanics from P&DR/P&DB and two-player multiplayer.
- Puzzle & Dragons Nintendo Switch Edition, another Nintendo Switch title featuring gameplay more similar to the original mobile game but with microtransaction elements and up to 8-player online multiplayer and custom Dungeon design elements.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Collaboration
On December 21, 2022, the official Japanese Puzzle & Dragons YouTube channel held a live broadcast to mark the end of 2022 and of their year-long 10-year anniversary festivities. During the broadcast, they had a surprise announcement of a collaboration featuring characters from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation, which was coincidentally also celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2022. The in-game event began the following Monday December 26, 2012, allowing players of P&D to obtain characters featured in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime through a special Collaboration Egg Machine, Special Dungeons, a Descend Dungeon featuring Enrico Pucci, a Boss Rush dungeon, and a Time Attack version of the Boss Rush that would award players a special Title (称号, Shōgō) based on the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation logo. The event concluded in Japan on January 9, 2023. Monsters in the collaboration event feature the special Voice Awoken skill, that when the player activates their Active Skill it plays a short soundbyte from the anime as well as have special animation effects in Dungeons when their base Active Skill is used. Players who obtain Jolyne Cujoh for the first time through the Egg Machine (available as a set Magic Stone Bundle microtransaction) would be awarded a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Orbs Skin while players who obtain Dio Brando from the Egg Machine (also available as a Magic Stone Bundle) for the first time would be awarded the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure BGM Set featuring the music used in the game's Dungeons.
On February 28, 2023, the official North American P&D YouTube channel announced that the North American edition of P&D would also gain access to the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Collaboration Event. Two days later on March 2, 2023, it was announced on the official website that the event would last March 6 to March 19, 2023. The Korean publisher of the game Gravity NeoCyon released that they would also be receiving the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure event lasting from March 6 to March 20, 2023.
JoJo Characters
DISCs
The JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Collab DISC (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険コラボDISC, JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken Korabo Disuku) monsters are obtained from the special JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and "Father Pucchi Descended!" Special Dungeons in the game. Players collect them to trade in for various monsters in the event such as the higher rarities of the DISCs or the Bow and Arrow.
JoJo Events
| Event | Description
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|---|
First run of the event on the Japanese server.
First run of the event on the North American server.
First run of the event on the South Korean server.
Collaboration Trailer
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